Why Did They Say That They Had No Right To Kill The Messiah?

"Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? ... Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye Him, and judge Him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death"

"24:13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying ...
24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death." (Leviticus 24:13,16 KJV)

"13:6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers ...
13:10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." (Deuteronomy 13:6,10 KJV)

"15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day ...
15:35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp." (Numbers 15:32,35 KJV)

There were times however when the people perverted the LORD's command for their own rebellious purposes. A prime example of that was when they wanted to stone Moses for leading them to their freedom (see The Israelite Wanderland).

"17:4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me." (Exodus 17:4 KJV)

The most hideous example of the people misusing the LORD's command for their own rebellious purposes was when they tried to stone the Messiah because of the Truth that He spoke.

"10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
10:30 I and my Father are one.

10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." (John 10:25-33 KJV)

The unbelievers continued to plot to kill the Messiah, but they encountered a problem - killing Him themselves would cause a revolt of the people of Judah against them. So, they decided to let the militarily-powerful Romans do it. But the Romans declared that they were not going to involve themselves in matters of religious Judaism - hence the religious council's political accusations against the Messiah.

When the religious authorities declared to the Romans that they had no right to execute anyone, they obviously were not talking about stoning a violator of religious law. They were referring to their inability to execute political and military offenders of Roman military law. In reality however, they manipulated the haughty and gullible Romans to carry out a religious assassination for them.

"18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
18:29 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?

18:30 They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

18:31 Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.

The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
18:32 That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.

18:33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?

18:34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

18:35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

18:40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber." (John 18:28-40 KJV)

763: The Battle of Bakhamra during the Alid Revolt (an uprising by the Hasanid tribe of the Alids against the governing Abbasid Caliphate) between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa ended in an Abbasid victory.

1793: King Louis XVI of France, who ruled from 1774 to 3 years after the revolution of 1789, was executed for treason. He was decapitated with the newly-invented guillotine.

1924: Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died of a stroke at age 54.

1936: After the death of his father King George V, Edward VIII became king. He resigned the throne later that year to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced US woman. Edward was succeeded by George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II.

1942: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (the "Desert Fox") mounted a counter attack against British forces in North Africa.

1950: Eric Arthur Blair died at age 46. Best known by his pen name, George Orwell (a name inspired by the Orwell River in England), the English writer was the author of numerous famous works, including the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four from which the terms "Cold War" and "Big Brother" originated.

1959: Hollywood movie maker Cecil de Mille died. He is most famous for his 1956 film The Ten Commandments.